


The Surface Area of You

by snufflesfoot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, OCD!Merlin, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 16:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3074432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snufflesfoot/pseuds/snufflesfoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin has OCD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Surface Area of You

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I am an ignorant piece of shit. Most of what is described here about OCD is ~~probably~~ surely horribly inaccurate. I did do a lot of research but neither I nor anyone I know has OCD, and no amount of Googling can properly account for the true experiences of anyone with OCD. Also, I don't own these characters blah blah blah.

Arthur's always known Merlin was a bit odd.

Ever since he first met him as Gwaine's new roommate and he locked the door behind him eleven times.

When they started up some video games, Merlin would press A twice and B three times over and over until someone won. It was usually him.

Later, Arthur told him that it was quite the technique he had there and Merlin rapidly blinked four times before giving a hesitant smile.

Arthur heard the lock click eleven times as he walked out.

The next Friday, they went out to drinks with a couple other friends from uni and Arthur waited outside the pub door as Merlin twisted the doorknob fourteen times and traced all the windows twice.

Merlin drank all of his drinks in exactly twenty six sips, even the shots. When Val laughed at him, Arthur gave him a hard glare that shut him right up and Merlin's smile grew a bit less hesitant.

***

Arthur was used to it. To Morgana washing already clean dishes, muttering numbers under her breath and then violently scrubbing her hands with foaming soap for minutes on end.

He was the first one who noticed it, when Morgana was twelve and was taking ages to do her assignments because she would erase the entire page if she misspelled one word or even if a letter was crooked.

Uther took her to a lot of doctors; some helped and some didn't. She stopped getting this look in her eyes though, a look that reminded Arthur of a newborn colt confronted with a rhinoceros, but she still took hours to do the grocery lists and rearranged the bookshelves on a weekly basis.

***

Gwaine told them he was leaving. Said it was to "discover the vast world" and "find his place in it." They all knew it was because he was tired of the pubs here. They threw him a farewell party anyway and Merlin hugged him seventeen times.

But now Merlin needed a roommate; you can't pay for a flat in London by yourself on an animator's paycheck. So Arthur thought about how his roommate George was about as interesting as a brick wall and how Merlin's flat was that much closer to his office too and then it was just logical really.

***

On good days, Merlin let Arthur vacuum the flat. On bad days, he did it himself four times.

But Arthur liked it there. Everything was neat, but had a lived-in feeling to it. They had a system going, too. Every morning, Arthur would wake up at 6 and get dressed for work and make both their breakfasts; Arthur had made eggs and toast for three hours straight the first Sunday until Merlin slowly nodded to deem it acceptable and Arthur wrote down exactly how he made them.

Merlin would wake up at around 8 and straighten his things and eat his breakfast and settle into his chair where he would work until Arthur got home at 5. Arthur was beside himself when he found out Merlin skipped lunch everyday, but he stopped nagging when Merlin quietly told him that he hated turning on the stove because he had to check if it was off over and over again and the microwave sounds drove him crazy.

Arthur just made Merlin eat twice as much at dinner.

***

Once, Merlin said that it told him if he didn't look at the clock every time it was 11:07, his mother was going to die.

***

There was a new movie out and Arthur was sure Merlin would love it. It was an animated film and people said it was the best in ages. They took a cab and, after Merlin made the driver lock it eighteen times, went on their way. Until Merlin saw a squirrel out of the corner of his eye on one street and then their cab hit a little bump on the next street and Merlin screamed until he could get out of the car and see that there was no dead squirrel. He checked all around too, behind benches and in the bushes, but there was nothing. They went home after that since Merlin was shaking so badly.

***

The first time Merlin kissed Arthur, he kissed him seven more times because none of the others felt right.

***

When it got bad, when Merlin would spend hours staring up at the clock or sliding the bolt on the door or opening and closing the windows, Arthur would hold his hand while he did and slowly, eventually, Merlin would release a breath and turn away and into Arthur and lay his head in the crook of his neck and curl a hand into Arthur's hip, the other still linked. Sometimes they would sway like that until Merlin got tired and Arthur would walk them both backwards into the bedroom.

***

On good days, coupled with warm summer days, Arthur would take Merlin into the countryside. They would lay out a blanket on some shady hill and talk and eat until the sun went down and then they would lie back with their knees bent and their arms behind their heads and wait for the stars to appear. When the brightest ones began to dot the deep sky, they would look up at them with their mouths softly gaping. Merlin would start counting as soon as the first little one had twinkled. Sometimes Arthur would count with him and sometimes he would stay silent and listen to his voice and drink in the freckled night with his fingers entwining Merlin's.

***

Every night, right before they went to sleep, Merlin would kiss Arthur in one spot, a different spot each night. Sometimes the places were methodical, sometimes not. Arthur didn't ask but Merlin told him one night anyway.

He told him that if he kissed every inch of Arthur then he would be able to love every inch of him.

***

Arthur's always known Merlin was a bit odd.

He doesn't mind.

**Author's Note:**

> again. READ THE DISCLAIMER. most of what i used came from here: [ocdtypes.com](http://www.ocdtypes.com/). also there were a couple personal stories on some forums.


End file.
